Showing posts with label Eclipse Award. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eclipse Award. Show all posts

  • Has the Breeders’ Cup Become Detrimental to Racing?

    POSTED Jan 11, 2014 By Derek Simon

    Since the Eclipse Awards were announced, many racing fans have been weeping and gnashing their teeth over the nominees.

    My friend Laura Pugh of Horse Racing Nation was so incensed by the Eclipse candidates that she even made a video about it… which, I suspect, will soon be screening at Cannes — only with Shia LaBeouf playing the part of Pugh.

     “It’s a list of Breeders’ Cup winners — literally,” lamented Pugh in her YouTube production. “If you won a Breeders’ Cup, you got nominated.

    “Is there something wrong with this?” Pugh continued. “No, if you had a good season to go along with it, of course there’s nothing wrong with it.”

     But therein lies the rub, according to Ms. Pugh and others. Some horses did not have a good season to go along with their BC success — horses like Ria Antonia, for example.

    (Click on image to enlarge)

    “Why in the heck is Ria Antonia on this list of nominees,” asks Pugh. “… She won one big race — one big race! And it was by a nostril — nose — excuse me, it wasn’t even by a nostril, she won it by [disqualification] … all her other races this year were dismal. Tell me how she is on here over Sweet Reason?”

    OK, I will tell you, as well as the others who feel likewise, why Ria Antonia has been nominated for an Eclipse Award: It’s because she won a championship race. After all, the Breeders’ Cup events are dubbed “World Championships” (in typical American sports fashion, “world” has a distinct U.S. feel).

    Yes, Yes, I know — that is precisely what irritates critics of the BC.  There are, after all, other races run throughout the year. Still, I don’t see anything wrong with acknowledging that certain events mean more than others.

    How else would one explain Orb being on the list of Eclipse nominees?
    (Click on image to enlarge)

    Let’s be real, outside of a tremendous spring, in which he captured four straight races, Orb was a complete bust. He was spanked in the Preakness, slapped down in the Belmont (by fellow Eclipse nominee Palace Malice), beaten in the Travers and buried in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

    But he’s an Eclipse Award candidate thanks to one race — the Kentucky Derby, which, as it turned out, was his last win of his career (Orb has been sent to stud).

    And this emphasis on big-race wins is not just a U.S. phenomenon. Guess how many Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winners have won a Cartier Racing Award (the European equivalent of an Eclipse Award) for Horse of the Year over the past 11 years?

    Try six.

    EUROPEAN HORSES OF THE YEAR THAT ALSO WON THE ARC
    (during the year in which they were honored)

    2013 – Treve
    2009 – Sea the Stars
    2008 – Zarkava
    2007 – Dylan Thomas
    2005 – Hurricane Run
    2003 – Dalakhani

    In fact, outside of Frankel, who was European Champion in 2011 and 2012, all the other Cartier Horse of the Year honorees won either the Arc or — are you ready for this? — a Breeders’ Cup race.

    Granted, Ouija Board (Horse of the Year in 2004 and 2006) and Goldikova (2010) had other big wins on their resume in addition to the BC events that they captured, but it’s worth noting that the former won just three of nine races in 2006 — and two of them came against restricted (female) company.

    Personally, I have no problem giving (much) greater weight to the BC races and other races of historical significance. What do you think?
     
    How important should the Breeders' Cup races be to Eclipse Award voters?




      
    pollcode.com free polls 

  • Game On Dude still the country's best horse

    POSTED Aug 26, 2013 By Unknown
    The results of this weekend's races--despite the favorite rolling in the Pacific Classic Stakes and an upset in the Travers--did nothing to change my thoughts on the championship picture for Horse of the Year and three-year-old male, respectively.
    Game On Dude is still in the Horse of the Year drivers seat by virtue of his third Grade 1 win--all at 1 1/4 miles and on three different surfaces. Wise Dan could have five Grade 1 wins by the end of the year, but it will be impossible to deny Game On Dude Eclipse Awards as Horse of the Year and champion older male if he finally gets his Breeders' Cup Classic (he'd have won both awards in 2011 or 2012 with a win in that race).

     I've had Game On Dude "ranked" on top since his Hollywood Gold Cup win, and he'll stay there unless he loses the Breeders' Cup.

     And Orb is still the top three-year-old male by virtue of his Kentucky and Florida Derby wins to go along with blacktype in the Belmont and Travers Stakes. Palace Malice remains in second with the Belmont and Jim Dandy wins, but is in a position of needing to win races to dethrone Orb. "Much the best" fourth-place finishes won't cut it--even in great races like the Jockey Club Gold Cup or Breeders' Cup Classic.

     Speaking of Palace Malice and the Travers, him rounding out the superfecta has to be the most celebrated fourth-place finish in the history of the Turf outside Jazil and Brother Derek dead heating for fourth in the 2006 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands. I don't disagree that he was among the best in the race, but I don't think he was "much the best" nor do I think he'll never lose to his peers again.

     Orb (my pick) had absolutely no excuse considering the trip. He flattened and somehow held on for show (this description works well for his Belmont as well), but unlike the Belmont when he was a gassed horse racing for the sixth time in five months, he probably needed this race. I'm not giving up on him--especially if he shows up in the Jockey Club Gold Cup in the 10-to-1 range.
    Will Take Charge ran well considering how he had to get there, and he ran fast. I guess all this praise of the winner, third-, and fourth-place finishers means I should love Moreno, too, but I'm just not sold.

     As for Will Take Charge's championship aspirations, it comes down to winning. I still have him behind Verrazano on the three-year-old depth chart. The Travers is a real nice race to win but that and the Rebel doesn't usurp a Wood Memorial-Haskell double, though another graded win probably would--especially if it comes against older.

     My America's Best Racing/ESPN poll for the week is:

     1. Game On Dude, 2. Wise Dan, 3. Royal Delta, 4. Cross Traffic, 5. Obviously, 6. Point of Entry, 7. Sahara Sky, 8. Fort Larned, 9. Flat Out, 10. Successful Dan.

     Biggest race this coming weekend is the Woodward.

  • A Classic problem

    POSTED Oct 9, 2012 By Unknown
    photo courtesy Keeneland
    Whoever is running Wise Dan's Twitter account is banging the drum loudly for respecting the horse's connections for "doing right by the horse" in deciding to send the Grade 1 winner on both dirt and turf to the Breeders' Cup Mile instead of the Classic.

     And I certainly respect that, too. If the Mile gives Wise Dan and his connections the best chance to be competitive, make the stable profitable, preserve the gelding for a six-year-old season, etc. then it is absolutely without a doubt the race he should target.

     What I don't understand about the rhetoric is that everyone seems content to concede that Wise Dan is the best horse in the United States, which I don't understand at all given that going a mile on the turf has never been the division to prove that in this country.

     Yes, turf milers have more prestige in other countries, but that makes sense given that combination includes both a classic distance AND a classic surface in places like England, France, Ireland, etc. It is neither in the United States.

    This is absolutely a down year from a superstar standpoint, and Wise Dan has flashed as much talent as any other horse, but is a Woodbine Mile, Shadwell Turf Mile, Breeders' Cup Mile Grade 1 three pack better than what Point of Entry could accomplish by winning the Breeders' Cup Turf (Man O'War, Sword Dancer, Joe Hirsch, and Breeders' Cup)?

    No.

     As a three-time Grade 1 winner Wise Dan could certainly win Horse of the Year and champion turf male with a Breeders' Cup Mile win, but that scenario also requires other horses to lose. If Point of Entry wins the Turf then Wise Dan won't even win an Eclipse Award let alone the gold one unless he goes on to win the Clark (and at that point he'd be champion older male and Horse of the Year with Point of Entry retaining champion turf male honors).

    Let's be honest, if Todd Pletcher trained Wise Dan and kept saying "he is the best horse in the country" but kept running him in one-mile turf events, the blogosphere would erupt with accusations of "kid gloves" training and insults about the conditioner's ability to train for a classic distance.

    And again, targeting the race that is best for the horse's well being and efficiency of the stable IS always the right thing to do, bar none. The problem is not with the target but the ammunition. That Wise Dan has proved himself as the best in the country without racing in the best races and/or against the best horses is folly. For now he's the best turf miler, and that's it.

  • Include Me Out left out

    POSTED Sep 26, 2012 By Unknown
    In a year of "wide open" Eclipse Award divisions, one filly routinely gets left out of division leader discussions, and that's Include Me Out, whose pairs of Grade 1 and Grade 2 wins easily stands tallest among her peers in the older female division.

    No other older female has multiple Grade 1 wins routing, and the two fillies who would most likely be favored in the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic--Awesome Feather and Royal Delta--have no Grade 1 wins among them this year. Both champions are competitive at the Grade 1 level, but it is past time for them to show us that this year.

    Include Me Out should have the clearest cut path to an Eclipse Award, but that she doesn't enforces trainer Ron Ellis's feeling that her reputation (or lack of one) is the victim of an "East Coast bias" among the press.

    "To tell you the truth, I've been a little insulted by the lack of respect my filly has gotten," Ellis said Tuesday during America's Best Racing's weekly media teleconference. "She's proven she's the best filly on the West Coast. ... Usually when [East Coast horses] hook our California horses, reality sets in. It just feels like we're not getting as much credit."

    It's widely accepted that if Awesome Feather were to win the Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic that she would deserve champion older female honors, and that is an idea that flies only because she is based on the East Coast. If a West Coast-based or Midwest-based older female won the Ladies' Classic off a restricted and listed stakes win then we'd be hearing about all the weak competition she faced all year.

    Truth be told, I see Awesome Feather as the most likely winner of the Ladies' Classic at this point, and she certainly could go on to win another important race in the fall to seal a championship (and maybe even Horse of the Year with a Clark victory?), but to think that the Ladies' Classic would be enough for an Eclipse is ridiculous.

    Don't get me wrong, Include Me Out still has to prove it, and here's how:

    1. Win the Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic on November 2 at Santa Anita Park. Obviously if she does this, she's the older female champion unless someone from that division were to win the Breeders' Cup Classic.

    2. Win the Zenyatta Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita with no other Grade 1 winner winning the Ladies' Classic. You wouldn't know it by the buzz she gets, but Royal Delta hasn't won a Grade 1 race this year, and needs to sweep the Beldame & Ladie's Classic to get my Eclipse Award vote. I'd also vote for any multiple Grade 1-winning Ladies Classic winner over Include Me Out even if the latter wins the Zenyatta.

    "Most accomplished" does not mean "fastest" or "best", but it is a mantle that deserves respect, and I agree with Ron Ellis that Include Me Out isn't getting enough respect as a two-time Grade 1 winner and four-time graded stakes winner this year. In an era when so many fans lament abbreviated campaigns, Ellis's frustration that Include Me Out isn't viewed as a divisional leader certainly has merit in the face of Awesome Feather's exultation off two non-graded stakes wins.

    I'm cheerleading for Include Me Out now because I'm not sure she'll be at the top of this division by the end of the year. Truth be told, I'm for Amani in the Zenyatta, Royal Delta in the Beldame, and one of those two in the Ladies' Classic even though I think Awesome Feather is the most likely winner. So, yeah, Include Me Out is up against it the next five weeks, but that doesn't mean she deserves to be ignored now. She's a major player in the division, and ignoring her in the wagering going forward doesn't mean her accomplishments should be ignored now.

  • The three-year-old picture: I'll Have Another on top

    POSTED Jun 9, 2012 By Unknown
    I don't think anyone expected that anything would happen in today's Belmont Stakes to dethrone I'll Have Another from the top spot in the three-year-old division, and those expectations were met when Union Rags surged up the rail to defeat Paynter and win the Belmont Stakes in 2:30.42.

    I'll Have Another is in the driver's seat for the Eclipse Award as champion three-year-old male, but his car is parked and the emergency brake is stuck in the on position. And at this point, if any horse can dethrone him from the top spot, it's Union Rags who some would say was defeated not by superior competition in the Florida and Kentucky Derbys but troubled trips.

    If Union Rags runs the table, I'll Have Another will have the head to head nod with the Derby win (Union Rags was seventh), but Union Rags has a classic win to his credit now, too, and a win against elder males later in the year following a big summer could be enough to propel him past the three-time Grade 1 winner.

    Bodemeister could re-enter the picture with a big summer and fall as well, but working against him is that I'll Have Another beat him on the square in both the Derby & Preakness. A pie-in-the-sky Haskell-Travers-Goodwood-BC Classic grand slam would be hard to deny him the championship (and Horse of the Year), but any slip up without a Breeders' Cup win probably stymies his chances.

    If I were to make a line now on who the champion three-year-old male will be it'd look like this (10% takeout):

    I'll Have Another, evens
    Bodemeister, 5-to-2
    Union Rags, 7-to-2
    All others, 9-to-1

    Even if I'll Have Another stays ahead of the pack, it should be a fun summer. Zayat chasing a big win after finishing second in all three Triple Crown races plus a good group of sprinter and middle distance horses among this crop (Trinniberg, Hansen, etc.) will make for great theatre hopefully all year.